Makati Food Adventure – Part 1

One of the things I look forward to whenever D and I go to our condo at Makati for the weekend is trying out different restaurants in the city. For the longest time we’ve stuck to our usual favorite spots, and it’s only been recently that we’ve come to appreciate the various options available at a further distance from our area. One of the places we’ve recently gotten the hang of is Poblacion at Makati District I. It’s known for its lively and hip vibe, with lots of bars, cafes, hole in the wall restaurants, hostels, and streetfood. I have several must-check out places saved within in my Google maps, but for some reason we have always put off a proper visit to the area. Finally, one Sunday afternoon, D and I kicked off what would be the first of our Makati food adventures in Poblacion.

First stop was Cafe Fleur, located at 5893 Enriquez Street. The plan was to have our afternoon cofee here before heading off to other restaurants. I’ve read a lot of raves about the place that’s why I chose this as our jump off point. We called in to book our seats in advance, and made it to the cafe just in time when the Sunday afternoon downpour commenced. The staff were welcoming and service was good. We loved the ambience of the place, with its native interiors and rattan furniture. I was tempted to have our early diner here when I saw their menu, but decided to stick to the plan. Their coffee was good – and D’s sweet tooth earned the cafe plus points with their added touch of chocnut alongside the coffee.

After our coffee, we waited for a few minutes for the rain to turn into a light drizzle before sprinting off to our next stop: Wantusawa, located at 5811 Jacobo Street. We almost missed it had it not been for the staff who were taking a break outside the restaurant. We were walk-ins, and luckily there were bar seats available. Wantusawa specialized in oysters, so we definitely tried them both as grilled and baked. We also got tuna tataki salad and smelt fish. All the food were yummy and filling, and the salad presentation especially stood out for me. Tummies full, we contemplated if we should still go for our last stop for the evening. Since it was only a few strides awat, we decided to give it a go and asked for our bill. It was a pleasant surprise – we paid no more than US $15. Wantusawa was such a treat!

Our last stop: Japonesa, located at 5658 Don Pedro Street. It’s a restobar with a stylish interior. We didn’t book seats here and so we got barseats as the place was almost fully booked. We tried their Bomba Camarones, Maguro Sashimi and Sakura cocktail drink. The Bomba Camarones is perhaps the highlight of that mini foodcrawl – to this day I rave about how good it tasted. It reminds me of my favorite streetfood when I was a child: fishballs dipped in sweet spicy sauce. D, on the other hand, raved about how soft the sashimi was. The Sakura tasted of strawberries. We’re so glad we got to check out the place, and I made a mental note to go back when we finish checking off the restaurants we plan to visit in Poblacion.

Actually, with these first three places I realized I overestimated our tummy’s capability to take in lots of food. Therefore our food adventures will pretty much be composed of three restaurants at a time. Hope to cover more ground next time!